There are shadowy characters in keeping with the mystery of Doctorow's novel, The Waterworks, and more conventional figures in pursuit of the elusive villains. The evil genius of the book is Dr. Sartorius who has convinced the corrupt authorities of New York to convert a waterworks facility into a laboratory for medical experiments on rich old men. Dr. Sartorius, however, is only revealed in person near the end of the novel. Even then it is not clear if he should be acknowledged for his "pure scientific temperament," or rejected as "criminally insane."

One of the old men kept in limbo between life and death is Augustus Pemberton. Despite the early reports of his ghostlike appearance beyond the grave, there is nothing ambiguous about the moral status of this character. His fortune comes from slave ships and war profiteering. He even disinherits his own family to buy his way into...